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Lowell charter school holds lottery for spots

By Marie Donovan, Sun Correspondent

Updated:
01/31/2013 09:44:25 AM EST

LOWELL -- Michelle Garcia got the news she was waiting for yesterday.

Her son, Alexander, was one of 78 city residents whose name was selected by lottery to fill seats in the first kindergarten class at the new Lowell Collegiate Charter School that is proposed to open in the next school year.

"I'm excited. This was a perfect time," said Garcia, who noted the company that will operate the school, SABIS Educational Systems, has a good college acceptance rate and offers a comparable curriculum to the local private school where she pays to send her oldest son.

SABIS took the bold step of hosting the lottery, with Sun Chairman Kendall Wallace drawing names, before it obtains final major regulatory approval for the school at 1857 Middlesex St.

"We are anticipating approval from the Planning Board on Feb. 4. The main issue raised at previous board meetings has been, almost singularly, traffic concerns at the Middlesex Street intersection with Wood Street," said Jose Afonso, director of U.S. business development for Minnesota-based SABIS. "We identified a traffic light computer loop that messes with traffic signalization, so it's backing up cars on the Rourke Bridge, which spills back onto Middlesex and neighboring streets. We offered to fix it."

A traffic engineer hired by SABIS to manage the project has shaved a significant time off the wait at the intersection, Afonso said.

SABIS, which operates schools in the U.K., Germany, Romania and the Middle East, opened its first U.

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S. school in Springfield in 1995 and has another school in Holyoke.

"They're both fantastic schools," said Afonso. He said more than 700 students are on the wait list in Holyoke and 3,000 students are on the wait list in Springfield location, which he said is now ranked in the top 3 percent of public schools in the country.

"It's a banner day for Lowell and Greater Lowell. I have a feeling this is going to help the city in the long term, so people will want to stay and start businesses and keep this city going," said Kate McCarthy, vice president of the school's board of trustees.

Jeff Crowley, a Lowell resident whose son, Mason, is the first of 24 children on the waitlist for kindergarten, said he was drawn by the after-school enrichment programs.

"I did a lot of research on the program. It definitely fits my schedule as a parent and I like the fact that there are uniforms and discipline," Crowley said.

"If your child is not fortunate enough to be selected today, please stay in touch with us. We're looking for some solutions for this," said Robert Giordano, overall director of business development for SABIS.

Giordano said the school, which will serve students in kindergarten to grade 5 initially and eventually would expand through the high school grades, plans to host lotteries for other grade levels as necessary.

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